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Thursday, May 3, 2012

Guest Post: Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance

Hello Lovely Readers!

When I was contacted by Melanie Brown from the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance I was thrilled to hear her thoughts on Art and Creativity and how it is a method of healing for cancer patients. As some of my readers know Cancer has hit my family and taken my loved ones recently. I am sure many of us are in the same situation. Take a moment and read her guest post below!

Create Art, Create
Healthiness

Life Happens

No one plans to get
sick with bronchitis, get injured at work or even receive something as rare as
a prognosis of mesothelioma—but more often then not, life incidences
catch us off guard and can significantly alter our former way of living.
However, we cannot allow unpredictable events to take over our lives. We must
find a way to soldier on. Expressing ourselves through art is a great way to
feel more relaxed and optimistic.

Creativity is Healing

Frequently we
inadvertently use art to help us manage overwhelming feelings such as stress
and disappointment. Studies have shown that art therapy can help relieve
depression and anxiety. Expressing oneself through art allows us to feel more
optimistic. We can alter our quality of life through art; we just need to find our own personal
inspiration. This can be anything from past experiences to something from your
wildest dreams. Anyone can benefit from the therapeutic influence of art,
whether it’s the person next door to someone suffering from autism to a cancer
patient…creativity heals.

"Imagination
rules the world." Napoleon could not have said it better. Using the arts
to inspire, to create ambition, is an excellent way to facilitate healing.
Whether you choose music, photography, scrapbooking, crafting, sewing,
painting, the creative outlets are endless. Physically creating a work of art
to illustrate a memory or keepsake is exhilarating and when you have finished,
it leaves such a sense of accomplishment. You have created something beautiful,
how can you not help but smile?

Inspire

Art gives you
something to be passionate about. Sharing the inspiration of creativity is just
as rewarding as creating. Inspire others, stir up that ambition, encourage each
other and create! Scrapbooking is an excellent way to get your craft on. The
sensory experience alone helps us to feel better, working with the patterns and
colors and textures to create a final masterpiece. Knitting, crocheting and
sewing can also be very relaxing with the very rhythmic actions that go into creating
each line of a scarf, blanket or even sweater. With the digital era,
photography is a medium that allows you to do so many different things.
Capturing a fleeting moment forever in a still frame and then editing and
tweaking it to portray it how you wish the world to see it is simply amazing.

Using art as therapy
is not unheard of. Art has been used to improve depression and fatigue on
cancer patients that were currently undergoing chemotherapy treatment. Everyone
needs a little inspiration, a little oomph to get them going in the right
direction. The great thing about art is with art there are no
limits. Your imagination
can take you wherever you want to go and you can create
anything. Art changes lives, what’s stopping you from changing yours?